


Right in the middle of a good dream

by BrilliantlyHorrid



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Inspired by a meme, Mostly Fluff, Oops, Possibly my last time writing Mace, Secret Relationships, Simmons is here too, Team Trust is eroded, The Sokovia Accords are weirdly invasive, chatty coulson, like all good fics?, painkiller use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-18
Updated: 2017-01-18
Packaged: 2018-09-18 07:15:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9373967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrilliantlyHorrid/pseuds/BrilliantlyHorrid
Summary: “I was hoping maybe we could discuss the massive breach in protocol you and Agent Coulson have been conducting without telling me.”Daisy frowned. “Yeah I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said."You know how I feel about trust, Agent Johnson,” Mace said, stopping in front of the door to Phil’s room.“Yes, we all know how you feel about trust,” Daisy answered, getting irritated. “It’s printed on basically every surface, I just have no idea what that has to do with me.”Mace just looked at her with disappointment, opening the door.





	

“How’s he doing?” Daisy asked Simmons as she passed her, slightly out of breath. She hadn’t exactly run to the lab, but she hadn’t been going at a leisurely pace either. Coulson had been rushed back on a quinjet while she was still finishing the mission and she had spent the last ten minutes of the flight basically been waiting at the ramp of the Zephyr, ready to jump out the second it opened.

“Daisy,” Simmons called out, before Ramirez and Jensen stepped in front of her at the door to room they were keeping Coulson in.

“Um, hey,” Daisy said, attempting to push past them, but they held strong. “Want to tell me what the hell is going on?” Inwardly, she began to panic. Was he in surgery? Was it worse than she thought?

“Daisy,” Simmons repeated, and Daisy turned around to look at her. There was something off about her stance.

_It must be serious._

“Director Mace requested that no one go in to see Agent Coulson for now,” she said, a bit chilly.

Daisy raised an eyebrow. “ _Requested_?”

“Ordered,” Simmons clarified, and Daisy shook her head.

“That’s ridiculous. Have you seen him? Is he okay?” She wasn’t sure what Mace was playing at but she was not in the mood to deal with it, especially not knowing Phil’s condition.

“I’m afraid that’s classified,” Simmons said, and Daisy began to realize that her cool tone may not have been directed at the director at all.

“Jemma, what’s going on?” Daisy asked, watching as her friend began to make herself look busy. That was all, _making herself look busy_. Daisy knew the difference.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Daisy, you should talk to Director Mace.”

Fully irritated now--and even _more_ worried, _what the hell was going on?_ \-- Daisy just scoffed and walked out of the lab, straight up to the director’s office.

Coulson was _shot._ She watched him get shot, and even worse, watched him realize, almost in slow motion. Daisy shivered, remembering the look on his face, remembering the rush to stop the bullet headed towards her with her powers, which was the only thing keeping her from running over there and making sure he was okay. The last she saw of him was getting carried onto the quinjet, and maybe it was just her mind playing tricks on her but he seemed even paler than usual.

So yeah. They were going to need a hell of an explanation for keeping her away from him now.

“What’s your problem?” Daisy demanded, standing in the door of Mace’s office, next to his ever-present security guard. She wasn’t worried about Cecilio giving her a hard time; off-duty he was a nice guy.

“Agent Johnson,” Mace greeted, waving her inside. Daisy shook her head, keeping her place.

“Coulson’s hurt and you’re not letting anyone in to see him? That’s not right, he’s our teammate he shouldn’t be alone in there.” She crossed her arms, waiting. In her head she started doing calculations, wondering how much time she would get to see him once getting past the two agents guarding his door. Probably not long, if she did so without hurting them. She would probably have to disarm Simmons too, she had become a little trigger happy with the taser lately--

“You’re right,” Mace said, snapping a folder shut on his desk. “Let’s go see him. Together.” Striding past Daisy out of the door, he headed toward the lab.

“ _You’re_ the one not letting anyone see him, what, did you think we needed a chaperone?” Daisy asked, keeping pace with him.

“Actually--” Mace stopped himself, making a weird, frustrated sighing noise. “I wanted you to come to me first,” he said, sounding peeved. “I was hoping maybe we could discuss the massive breach in protocol you and Agent Coulson have been conducting without telling me.”

Daisy frowned. “Yeah I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said.

“You know how I feel about trust, Agent Johnson,” Mace said, stopping in front of the door to Phil’s room.

“Yes, we _all know_ how you feel about trust,” Daisy answered, getting irritated. “It’s printed on basically every surface, I just have no idea what that has to do with me.”

Mace looked at her with disappointment, opening the door. Giving him one last confused and frustrated look, Daisy rushed over to Coulson’s bed, taking in his condition.

“Hey, how are you?” She asked, looking him over. He was awake, looking at her with wide eyes. _You’re okay,_ Daisy thought, relieved.

“You’re _here_ ,” Coulson said, reaching out like he was trying to grab her hand, but was off by several inches. “I told them you’d be here, I told them.”

Daisy’s eyebrows shot up. His voice was like a stage whisper, with a certain... _dreamy_ quality she wasn’t used to hearing. “Yeah, yeah I’m here, Coulson.” _What is he on?_ A wide, goofy smile spread across his face slowly, and Daisy felt the pronounced presence of Simmons and Mace behind her.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said, almost wistfully. “When’s the last time I said how beautiful you are?”

_Oh._

Now she was beginning to understand Mace’s comments.

“About twenty minutes ago,” the director offered from the back of the room.

“I love you _so much,_ ” Phil carried on, not a worry in the world. He lifted his hand to touch her face, again missing by a significant margin.

“Yeah, you said that too,” Mace muttered.

“We should just go for it, you know? No more hiding, or sneaking around, just say to hell with all these, these _stupid_ rules _._ ”

“Well, I’m not sure we have a choice now,” Daisy said kindly, grabbing his still-waving hand with her own. Looking back at the director and Simmons, who had comically similar looks of disappointment, Daisy shrugged. “I guess the extremely high cat is out of the bag.”

“We got a _cat_?”

The other two shook their heads.

* * *

Poor Phil was mortified.

“I’m so sorry, Daisy,” he said, once she had explained the situation to him. After she ‘fessed up,’ Simmons and Mace left the two of them alone finally with a stern ‘this conversation isn’t over,’ presumably so she could stew in guilt. But Daisy couldn’t bring herself to feel guilty. Sure, maybe they had even more firmly eroded the team trust, and considering how _open_ about her problems with Fitz Jemma was, she had probably been expecting the same openness from Daisy, but all in all? That wasn’t her primary concern.

“Stop, all of that apologizing is going to open your stitches back up or something,” Daisy said, patting the top of Coulson’s hand lightly.

“What else did I say? Tell me,” he asked, again.

“I don’t know why you’re insisting on torturing yourself.” She wasn’t sure exactly what went on before she got in there, but it was safe to say that he had been emphatic about Daisy coming to see him. And just why he was so certain she would be there. Simmons had picked up on it first, sending everyone else out of the room before he said too much.

Daisy supposed she was grateful for that; they didn’t need it being spread around the base. However, her appreciation could only extend so far, and stopped pretty firmly when Simmons told the director.

“What are we going to do?” Poor Coulson sounded genuinely sad, and Daisy kind of wished happy, doped up Coulson was back for a moment. That Coulson could not be more excited about sharing their news with everyone, while this Coulson could only muster deep guilt and regret.

“Well, according to you we’re going to say ‘to hell with all these stupid rules’ and go for it.”

At last, a tiny smile graced his face. “I said that?” He looked so proud, Daisy almost wanted to do something that would definitely open back up his stitches. She refrained.

“You sure did. Apparently you also said some things to Simmons that she _didn’t_ tell Mace about. Probably only because she didn’t want to repeat them,” Daisy grumbled, still a bit irritated. On the one hand, it was kind of a relief not having to sneak around anymore. On the other, an accidental confession under the influence was not the way they wanted to present their case.

“Oh no,” Phil said, covering his face with his hands. He still looked worn out, the last thing he needed was this kind of stress. Daisy gently tilted his head toward her, pressing a kiss to his hair.

“It’s okay, champ,” she said, trying to find a way to comfortably lean over the bar on the edge of his bed. “We were planning on telling everyone eventually, we just need to speed it up a little bit, get our argument ready.”

She’d ask Mack and Elena for tips, but they were still firmly in the “sneaking around” camp. Granted, it wasn’t really sneaking if a handful of people knew, but they kept it discreet enough not to show up on the director’s radar.

Of course, within SHIELD (and outside of it, in Daisy’s case,) Coulson and Daisy had no chance of staying under the radar.

“It really is a stupid rule,” Coulson said, wincing slightly as he scooted to the other side of his bed. Taking the hint--but giving him one severe look for the movement--Daisy climbed in, careful not to jostle him too much. “It’s a total invasion of privacy.”

_But we don’t have privacy._

That was probably the main reason she didn’t want the director to find out, because it wasn’t his call. The “temporary” ban on human-Inhuman relationships within government agencies was out of Mace’s hands, so he wasn’t the only one they would have to persuade.

“We’ll figure it out,” she said, curling into his (good) side just as the door to his room opened. Veeeery slowly.

“Don’t mind me,” Simmons said, walking in and deliberately not looking at them until she deemed enough time had passed for...Daisy didn’t know, them to stop banging fully clothed and half-injured? “I just need to check Agent Coulson’s stitches.”

Instead of getting out of his bed to let Jemma work, Daisy reached over and lifted the edge of Coulson’s t-shirt up until the wound was visible.

“Looks good to me,” she said, probably taking too much time dragging her hand across his stomach and back to her side. “Sorry,” she said, noticing Coulson twitch slightly. She put her hand flat on his hip, as if to steady him. “Ticklish,” she told Simmons, who just nodded and looked determinedly at the wound.

Coulson gave her a half-hearted warning look. _I know, I know, don’t terrorize our friends._

But come on. It was a little overkill. Was she just angry about Daisy not telling her, or did the idea of the two of them together bother her?

(Simmons fell in love with a guy on an alien planet, okay? Things happened.)

“All set, I’ll check that again in the morning,” Simmons said, stepping back.

“Don’t come too early, we like to sleep in,” Daisy called, and felt Coulson pinch her lightly on the side. “Hey I’m doing her a favor, you’re a grouch,” she mumbled. Leaning her head back against his collarbone, she caught Simmons looking at them strangely from the doorway. Realizing she had been seen, she reddened slightly and excused herself.

Before he had a chance to say anything, Daisy looked up at him. “She didn’t have to tell Mace, that’s all.”

Phil sighed a little bit before nodding reluctantly. “I know, but she did and because of that no one else found out.” Daisy pursed her lips, unimpressed. “We’ll figure something out,” Phil said, lying back further. The poor guy was clearly exhausted.

“That’s my line,” Daisy mumbled, kissing him lightly on the lips before closing her own eyes and trying to get some sleep. They’d need a good night’s rest if they were going to challenge international laws tomorrow. Gingerly resting her fingers by his injury, Daisy sighed. “Seriously, I’m glad you’re okay.” The sentiment may not have been as sappy as she intended it to be, but Phil knew she was working on the whole ‘expressing her feelings’ thing. Sometimes she felt guilty; even when he wasn't hopped up on pain meds he'd always been pretty vocal about how much he loved her. She might not be as good at that as he was, but Coulson knew how she felt about him, she made _sure_ of that.

“Me too,” he said tiredly, combing a hand through her hair.

“You humans are too fragile.” Daisy yawned, feeling a chuckle rumble through his chest.

“Hey,” he said, “I’m not entirely human.” Daisy felt him tap her gently on the cheek with the finger of his prosthetic, and she smiled. 

Then Daisy’s eyes shot open.

“ _Phil_ ,” she said, suddenly wide awake. She knew how to fix this. And Simmons was going to help.

* * *

Daisy tapped the sole of her apparently unnecessary high heel on the floor in front of her. The sound echoed down the mostly empty hallway. Either everyone else was attending meetings or government was even slower than she thought.

“How long’s it been?” She asked, and Coulson shrugged. He looked calm sitting on the bench next to her, not as fidgety as her, but she could tell he was starting to sweat it too.

“Ten minutes since you last asked.”

“I know,” she sighed. “I can’t believe we didn’t even get to be in the room.” In a way it was probably for the best, she tended to get a little heated and stuffy politicians weren’t so receptive to that.

As if on cue, the door opened and people Daisy didn’t recognize began to file out. Some spared the two of them a glance, others didn’t even look up from their phones or the aides filling them in on their schedules. It was strange, not being the oddest part of someone’s day. She kind of liked it.

Eventually Mace walked out, nodding at them tersely before walking away. They were kind of expecting that. He still seemed rather hurt about the Team Trust thing.They were going to work on it. Eventually.

Finally Simmons walked out, and Daisy and Coulson perked up, standing as she walked over.

“It worked,” Simmons said, smiling slightly as she handed Coulson a heavy-looking manila folder. “Your humanity has been officially revoked.” Her brows furrowed. “Congratulations?”

“Thank you,” Phil said, looking kind of giddy.

_Nerd._

But it _worked._ She kind of couldn’t believe it, something finally went their way. Daisy didn’t like admitting to pessimistic, but she had been sort of preparing herself for the worst the entire day.

“So what are the next steps?” Daisy asked, looping her arms around Coulson’s waist as the last few people trickled out of the conference room. She got clingy when she was relieved, she'd noticed that. Coulson was always  _there_ with her, when confronted with the idea of him not being there, Daisy could get a little overwhelmed. 

“Well, we have a physical on record but there will need to be additional tests to follow the Accords,” Simmons explained, and Daisy squeezed Phil’s side lightly.

“Oh, you’re going to love those.”

“Then it’s a matter of getting him into the system, keeping track of his status, location.”

“The usual,” Daisy added. “So wait, is it different since he’s not Inhuman?”

Simmons actually looked a little excited then, gesturing to the folder in Phil’s hands. “Actually, yes, since we haven’t had a case like his before, he actually has his own category.”

“Really?” Coulson asked, eyes wide. He opened his folder, scanning through the documents until he found some sort of profile form that had been roughly filled in with pen. His face fell. “‘ _Other_?’ Seriously?”

Daisy bumped her head against his shoulder, in what she hoped was a clear sign of sympathy. “Aw, sorry babe.”

“There has to be something in there besides Inhuman,” Coulson argued, but Jemma just shrugged.

“There is, but you’re not enhanced.”

Daisy opened her mouth to say something but was silenced with a look from Phil. _Spoilsport._ It was going to be a _compliment._

“What about my hand?”

“Man-made,” Simmons answered, starting to look like she was pitying him a bit too. “And if anything, it’s also a reminder that the Terrigen has no effect on you.”

“ _Other_ ,” Coulson repeated, disappointed.

“If it helps, the level of observation and restrictions will be likely reduced, once we draw everything up.”

“Hold on a second,” Daisy said, stepping back and crossing her arms. “He still gets special treatment?” She was thrilled and of course grateful Coulson was even giving up what he was giving up to continue their relationship, but _come on_. They weren’t going to have to jump through the same hoops? What kind of bullshit was that?

“I’m sorry Daisy, he just hasn’t shown any signs of exceptional ability from the GH-325, apart from the initial healing,” Simmons explained.

“Well that makes me feel great,” Phil huffed, putting the papers back in the folder.

“But it’s still alien DNA,” Daisy argued, “the same DNA that I have, that could have who knows what effect. If they’re not worried about that, why even register him?”

“That’s why it’s helpful for him to be in the registry,” Simmons said, clearly pleased with the day’s results. “We can compare the two different cases now, officially. See if there’s anything we missed.” She looked at Phil and patted him on the arm encouragingly. “Maybe _then_ you’ll be considered a threat,” she told him.

Daisy sighed. “So basically he’s still human, but just not human enough to be let off the hook.” She was actually kind of disappointed, was that weird?

“Better safe than sorry,” Simmons said, agreeing. “You were right, paranoia is so high right now they weren’t resistant at all, even with his lack of apparent powers.”

“Okay, well this got depressing very quickly,” Phil said, and Simmons blushed slightly.

“Sorry, Sir. I mean, Coulson.” She looked over at Daisy, smiling apprehensively.

“Thank you, Jemma.” She said sincerely. Of course Daisy was still a little annoyed at the situation in general, but Simmons seemed to have gotten over most of her skittishness by the time they approached her with the plan the next day. She was even a little eager to help, which was refreshing given the director's cold shoulder.

Simmons smiled, bigger this time. “Congratulations!” She said again, just a little bit awkward, but Daisy couldn’t blame her for that. The situation was...unique. “I guess some good came out of you going into _far_ too much detail about your personal life while under the influence after all!” Coulson gave her a strained smile, and Jemma winced. “Right. I will see you back at the base for your exam." She waved and departed. 

Listening to Simmons’ heels click down the hall, Daisy turned to face Coulson. “So, looks like we’re no longer outlaws.”

Smiling lazily, as if he knew the whole time it would be okay and wasn’t just as worried as she was for the past two days, Coulson nodded. “Guess not. I hope that doesn’t take away some of the appeal for you.”

Daisy frowned, a little offended, but then started to look thoughtful. Watching the cocky smile begin to fade from Phil’s face, she tilted her head. “Hmmm.” She leaned forward and pressed her lips against his. Coulson responded, kissing her deeply, ready to impress thanks to her mean little stunt. (She didn’t feel super guilty about that.) After a bit, she placed her hands on his chest and stepped back. “Nah, still into it.”

Phil smiled, pleased with himself. “Even without _enhanced abilities_?” Steering them down the hall, he placed an arm around her shoulders. Daisy was a little embarrassed how happy that made her, like he had just given her his varsity pin and they were going steady.

_Ugh who am I?_

“Yeah, I have a few things to say about that,” Daisy argued, and Coulson shook his head, smirking.

“I know you do, but let’s save it until we’re off government property, huh?”

Daisy sighed. “Fair enough.” She would be sure they both got a thorough reminder of _all_ of his much-appreciated abilities when they got back home.


End file.
